November 14, 2007
BCCI more keen on IPL than coach
However, in marketing matters the board is right on top. The Indian Premier League, which promises to kill off the competition of the unofficial Indian Cricket League is their top priority.
Sachin Tendulkar among others is said to be interested in owning one of the teams and the board is out to ensure that this league modeled on the lines of club football is a huge success.
The kind of interest that the BCCI has generated in the IPL or the Indian premier league is such that film actor Rusell Crowe wants to own one of the teams or atleast have a stake.
The BCCI hasn’t confirmed the names of any of the bidders but they have fixed a date when they will decide on who gets the lucrative television rights for this event.
“In November, the media rights for the event will be decided. The bidders will give presentations. Then the highest bidders can buy the franchise. But all I can tell you is that it has had an overwhelming response,” said Rajiv Shukla - Chairman, Media Committee.
The BCCI is so determined to make the IPL a success that they will meet with the Asian Cricket Council next month to postpone the Asia Cup to June 2008. The Asia Cup is scheduled for April which is the same month that the IPL will launch.
Already the IPL has big names and big money. The floor price for each team franchise has been fixed at about Rs 200 crores. Sources in the BCCI have told NDTV that 20 bidders have expressed interest for the Mumbai team and nine for Delhi. Each of the players could be paid as much as Rs 40 lakhs to a crore.
“We have 49 players contracted and they are our strength,” said Shukla.
So the IPL tournament will be played at the cost of the Asia Cup. Once again the BCCI coffers are all set to swell with top companies expressing interest to own IPL teams.
And with the number of them increasing, it is likely that the number of teams participating in the first edition of the tournament will also go up.
India struggle to find Chappell’s successor
NEW DELHI (AFP) — India’s cricket chiefs on Tuesday delayed a decision on naming a coach for the national team, but said they would appoint one ahead of next month’s Australian tour.
“We are definitely going to appoint a coach before the team leaves for Australia,” said Mohinder Pandove, an official from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
India have been without a regular coach since April, when former Australian captain Greg Chappell resigned after the South Asian nation’s shock first-round exit from the World Cup in the Caribbean.
Three men have been in temporary charge of India since then after South Africa’s Graham Ford, who coaches English county Kent, turned down an offer from the cash-rich BCCI.
Former all-rounder Ravi Shastri managed the team for the tour of Bangladesh in May. Veteran Chandu Borde, 73, took over during the visit to Ireland and England from July to September.
Former Mumbai first-class cricketer Lalchand Rajput then took charge at the inaugural Twenty20 Worlds in South Africa in September, which India won, and continued for the home one-dayers against Australia and Pakistan.
Pandove said on Tuesday that Rajput, 45, will continue for the Test series against Pakistan starting on November 22 as they search for a permanent appointee before the Australian tour.
India, who leave for Australia in the third week of December, are due to play four Tests and a limited-overs tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka on the 11-week tour that ends in early March.
The BCCI advertised for a coach last month. But media reports said none of the 12 applicants impressed the selection committee, which includes former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Shastri.
Former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, who was once a strong contender for the Indian job, was instead appointed director of the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy last month.
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